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Hot Water Heater sunk through floor HELP!

Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 8:08 pm
by Sman101102
Hello all ,I am new to this forum so please forgive me if I seem off the wall... Anyhow, I am in a 1996 Skyline Cutlass 14X66 Mobile home. I am in Denver, Colorado and recently my hot water heater decided it was gonna move south and started going through the floor of the closet that it is in springing a leak and making the particle board mushy. I need to know can I lay a piece of plywood over the top of this and install the new water heater and everything will be okay? OR will I need to remove walls and take this chunk of flooring out in order to make it sound? I have a friend that is going to be helping me do this and he thinks that we need to go the later route of removing a large portion and going from there.... If there is any other information that is needed please let me know.

Thank you all,
Sean M.

Re: Hot Water Heater sunk through floor HELP!

Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 8:22 pm
by blwfly
you will need to remove all soaked flooring and any rot that has happend. then put heaters in there and dry it out as much as you can. unless the walls are rotted you could leave them in place and work from underneith as from my understanding no interior walls are bearing in a trailor. hope that helps and fix that leak:)

Re: Hot Water Heater sunk through floor HELP!

Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 8:26 pm
by Sman101102
that does help! The walls aren't rotted and it's only maybe a 12 inch place where the hot water heater decided it was gonna go through. So that helps alot! thank you, I didn't know that you could work from beneath... By the way the leak has been fixed (the inner tank on the hot water heater burst somehow and since it was still under warranty I've already got the new one just need to fix up the floor and get it installed.

Thanks again!

Re: Hot Water Heater sunk through floor HELP!

Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 11:44 am
by JD
I have repaired a lot of floors and have found that they are almost always easier to repair from the top side. This is especially true of a WH compartment that has a door outside. The floor will be closer to waist level while standing outside.

It is important to remove all wet/soaked particle board, dry the area out and then replace with plywood. If wet particle board is left under the plywood, you will probably trap in moisture and thus mold and mildew. Same goes for walls. If water got behind the sheetrock or paneling, that will also trap mold and mildew.

Re: Hot Water Heater sunk through floor HELP!

Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 5:28 pm
by Greg
One other thing to think about. VALVES!! I would almost bet the the heater does not have any, Add two when you install the new one. use either a Brass or stainless 1/4 turn ball valve or a gate valve. Do not use a plastic body valve or a stop valve. Plastic bodies tend to do strange things like leak or not shut off when you need them to and stop valves reduce the flow too much.

For the extra few bucks, now is the time to add them. Greg

Re: Hot Water Heater sunk through floor HELP!

Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 7:53 pm
by joedirt63
here's a thought i did this to my daughters place. befor i install the water heater.i put down a drain pan. rubber with 3 inch wall to contain any future leaks and plumed out side with a a/c type drain. did the same for the washer. if prevvious owner did that i woudn't have had replace 400 plus sqare feet of sub floor.